KINGSDOWN School headteacher Wendy Taylor says her school may be forced to shut if teachers choose to strike over pay.

The National Union Of Teachers is to ballot members on a strike against the continued cutting of teachers' living standards.

It comes after a below-inflation pay rise for the third year in succession.

NUT members in all of Swindon's primary and secondary schools will be balloted at the end of the month about a one-day strike on April 24.

If the strike does go ahead about 1,000 teachers in the town could walk out on schools.

And Mrs Taylor said because a quarter of Kingsdown's teachers belong to the NUT the school would have to close if they decided to walk out.

She said: "NUT members account for about a quarter of teaching staff here.

"Of course, whether we shut or not is entirely dependent on whether these teachers choose to follow their union."

NUT south west regional secretary Andy Woolley said that Swindon teachers were getting the roughest deal of all.

As reported in the Advertiser yesterday he said: "Swindon is the worst hit in the south west region because of the high cost of living and so young teachers are constantly finding it difficult to get on to the property ladder."

According to figures from the NUT, junior doctors who earn a basic salary with a supplement would earn £32,087 with the amount increasing to more than £39,000.

Police officers also earn a higher wage than teachers, are paid during training and don't need to be graduates.

Some teachers in the town say they are having to come off the property ladder because they can't afford it.

But despite Mr Woolley's claims Mrs Taylor says she counts herself lucky she's not in another giving profession such as nursing.

"As a profession I don't think we do badly," she said. "When you consider what our policemen and nurses are getting we are not doing too badly.

"We can't say for certain whether there will even be a strike at this early stage of the year."